Performers at The Basement, a horror-themed escape room in Sylmar, plan to unionize with the Actors’ Equity Association as they lobby for higher wages and safer working conditions.
Actors’ Equity is a national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre.
The Basement’s 20 employees have filed for union recognition with the National Labor Relations Board. If the board approves their request, the venue’s owner, Dark House Entertainment, can either accept or reject their plan to unionize.
If the company rejects the move, workers are confident the NLRB will certify their signed commitment cards to unionize. And that, they say, would make The Basement the first unionized escape room in the U.S.
Representatives with Dark House could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Dylan Belardinelli, a supervisor and interactive “scare actor” at the Sylmar venue, said the performers currently earn a base pay of $16.78 an hour, L.A.’s minimum wage. The performers are hoping to boost that.
They haven’t said what kind of pay hike they’re seeking but the increases would likely vary depending on each specific role, Belardinelli said.
“That will be part of the discussion,” he said. “We are overextended and underpaid. We hope to find a more agreeable sum that benefits everyone involved for the job they do.”
The actors have expressed a variety of safety concerns at the Foothill Boulevard venue, which formerly served as a warehouse.
“It needs a lot of sanitation and basic maintenance,” Belardinelli said. “We have water leaks throughout the building, and there are big drapes hanging from the windows that haven’t been treated with fire retardant. That could be a fire hazard.”
The performers also hope to have an increased security presence on site, as some adrenaline-filled visitors can get rowdy.
“There’s not a lot of backup,” Belardinelli said. “We can put eight to 12 people in each…
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